


Strange and Tangled Lives

by Bridthesin



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Canon-Typical Violence, Drug Use
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-06
Updated: 2016-05-25
Packaged: 2018-06-06 16:08:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6760831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bridthesin/pseuds/Bridthesin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Modern day Fallout AU. WHen Joanna (original character loosely based on a female sole survivor) found out her parents were dead she thought immediately of her estranged sister Shauna and set off from her home in England to Boston to tell her the bad news.</p>
<p>It's been a year since Joanna turned up at her sisters apartment to find the place trashed and Shauna gone and now she is in big trouble. She lost and injured running through rain soaked streets but an unlikely hero comes to her aid and an unexpected friendship and maybe something a bit deeper develops. There's someone after her though, a mysterious group of people who seem highly trained and well armed and there's her complicated past to contend with... will it all work out in the end? Will they find Shauna? Or will everything come crashing down?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Warehouses

          Picture this, a rainswept street surrounded by the crumbling bricks and corroded iron of a long dead port, the dim flickering of streetlights barely able to create their own pools of light on the wet pavement. It’s the dead of night and silence is ruptured only by the sounds of rats scurrying about and the bark of a fox in the distance. But footsteps add their clatter, fast uneasy footsteps and the clack of a heel as a girl runs so fast her legs hurt and the pink of her dress flaps in the incessant wind. As she runs for a second into the light of a streetlamp it becomes clear she is bleeding, through another flash of light and a glimpse of a wound on her arm, a deep graze that’s seeping blood.  
          Joanna’s mind is a flurry of conflicting emotions as she runs down the street, not bothering to register where she is or where she is going, the landscape just passes by in the flashing of light and a blur through her tears. She’s listening for a sound she knows too well, the revving of a particular car, the same one she was thrown from minutes ago, scraping along the asphalt of a broken old road by her bare arms. The noise doesn’t come, he didn’t give chase and she slows and takes stock of the decrepit buildings around her, closing her eyes she listens hard for any clue as to where she could be and hears the gentle lapping of waves,  
          “Water, I can follow a river to… somewhere” she says to herself, unsure why she said it aloud other than to reassure herself she could still speak. After some time she feels gravel under her feet, there are no street lamps lighting the way anymore, only a dim light on the side of a dilapidated building to tell her she was walking towards a rotten wooden boardwalk. The water below is gently lapping, she can barely see a reflection in the broken surface, a wavy silhouette of her body that made her think long and hard how easy it would be to just jump in. Joanna would be no more, just a body sinking into the cold, enveloped by the swirling current as her mind switched off. But she knew drowning was a lot harsher than that, she knew about the desperate burning breaths that filled stabbing lungs with water and that brought her to her senses. For now she had to stay alive, she had a task that had brought her to Boston over a year ago though by now it felt like a distant memory more than the fervent search it had been in the beginning.  
          Talking pulls her away from her morbid thoughts, flashlights can be seen scanning over the gravel a little way from her and two men are discussing something so mundane it reminds her that other lives are going on. Dark blue uniforms are lit by the stray light from the torches in their hands and her heart sinks, Joanna of all people knows how corrupt the police system is in this hellscape. For a moment she thinks about jumping into the river again, this time to escape but they spot her before she gets the chance,  
          “Oh look… what are you doing out here young lady?” One says and now she can see his face, dark hair and a moustache that was out of fashion decades ago frame his portly face but it’s the nasty gleam in his eyes that draws her attention. The other is younger, thinner but just as dark haired and grinning like it’s christmas, it’s clear these two aren’t the type to help a desperate young woman alone in the middle of the night. She glances about for a means of escape but all she can make out is the dim light that somehow still shines from corner of some sort of warehouse. In her eyes it's a beacon and she runs for it, in her distress her mind grips onto that one thing and transforms it into hope,  
          “Now why you running… we’re here to help” the younger cop says, striding confidently towards her, he knows she can’t outrun him and can see that she’s heading to a corner like a scared animal. He knows he can take his time catching up to her and that makes him all the more intimidating. He stands in front of her, towering over her small frame as his partner catches up,  
          “I’m not going with you and I won’t give up easily” she warns them, she wanted her voice to come out loud and authoritative but really it’s more like a squeak, she backs further away until she feels the cold corrugated iron against her shoulders and knows there’s nowhere to go. With no other option she reaches into the top of her dress, the cops eyes light up as her hand finds the band of her bra but go dark when she pulls out a small pistol,  
          “Now you don’t want to go doing that unless you know how to handle that thing” the older one says, pulling a considerably bigger gun from a holster at his hip and pointing it at her. But Joanna does know how to use a gun, she has since she was very very young and confidently points hers right back at him. Without warning he fires before she gets the chance and her thigh explodes with searing pain as the bullet lodges itself just above her knee and she sinks to the floor with a cry. They round on her like hyenas, bearing down towards her and Joanna closes her eyes and waits for the inevitable, a hand grabs at her dress and with one last burst of courage she opens her eyes to spit at the sneering man above her. He recoils back, spittle running down his face and that’s when she sees it, a glint of white teeth in a manic grin followed by the flash of cold metal and the older cops blood is spilling from his throat. The younger one shouts something guttural and turns but he’s too late, a stab to the kidney is followed by one to the gut and he falls to the gravel writhing in pain where he would stay until he dies. However Joanna is merciful even in her anger and won’t let another human suffer like that, she pulls up her gun and aims at his head and the powerful little thing at such close range makes his head explode over the ground,  
          “There’ll be more after that noise” her rescuer says, taking a step towards her, blood covered hand reaching out towards her and she scrambles back from him, fear pulsing through her veins and the wound in her leg, the scrapes on her side and the black eye forgotten in the face of adrenaline. The man’s face softens as he takes her in and he pulls his hand back “I’m not gonna hurt you sister”  
          “I don’t know that” she whispers, remembering the gun in her hand she holds it up and points it at him, he doesn’t look phased even if she just put a bullet into a man’s head only a moment ago,  
          “Well I won’t and it looks to me like you got no choice but to trust me, we’re miles away from people and that leg doesn’t look like it can take you far” he gestures at the blood running down from her thigh, she had almost forgotten and the reminder brings the pain back to the forefront of her mind, making her wince and drop the gun. Unsurprisingly the stranger notices and puts a toe on it to kick it out of her reach, she’s defenceless now,  
          “Where am I?” It was all she could think to say, he crouched down at her side, his feet scraping on the stones and looked into her eyes,  
          “You don’t know… how the fuck did you end up here?” He asks and she can see a kindness behind his scarred face, a face that might have shocked her if she hadn’t been so scared already. A thick scar runs down one side and around it are what looks like cigarette burns, round and dark and old, she wonders distantly how he could have got them while she studies him in silence, his dark eyes roaming over her face. It isn’t long before he gives up waiting for an answer and breaks the silence, “I got somewhere nearby, I can get you fixed up and sort you out some new clothes” he offers his hand again and this time she takes it with a tiny nod, he pulls her up to stand but the pain in her leg is too much and she stumbles. Without a word he picks her up in his arms like a bride and carries her away, Joanna wonders how someone as slender could be so strong,  
          “Shouldn’t I go to a hospital?” She asks and hears him sigh,  
          “Do you wanna explain to them how you ended up with a bullet in your leg and why there’s two dead cops… speaking of which” he kicks the gun she had used and watches it fly, landing in the water to be washed away “is it registered to you?”  
          “Yes” it was a gift from an old uncle not long before he died and had taken her a lot of effort to change the registration over, back at home when she had believed in the law and trusted the police like she never would again,  
          “Shit” he cursed between his teeth “that’s a problem”  
          “Yes” she says again and he looks at her face, gaze roaming over it again as he carries her off into the night,  
          “No offence sweetheart but are you dumb or just naive… no one carries a registered gun round here” she would be offended by that, and him calling her sweetheart but right now she is starting to feel tired and could just as easily fall asleep in the warmth of his arms,  
          “I’m not from around here”  
          “No shit… well we’re here” he says at the door of yet another unassuming warehouse, this one built of red brick like so many houses back in England but rare here in America where everything was built from wood or breezeblocks. He gently lowered her until she was on her feet, keeping one arm wrapped round her as he pushed the door open and Joanna wondered why it hadn’t been locked. A dark, empty space stretched out in front of them, concrete floors and vastness making it cold, he must have noticed her shiver because he spoke up “don’t worry, down here’s just… empty… homes upstairs”  
          “You live here?” He helped her walk into a corner and through another door where a loud metal staircase lead up to the second floor and another door, through which was a sea of light. Lamps filled the room giving off a soft yellow glow, the floor was covered in a hodgepodge of fading rugs in many different colours, two large sofas were covered in just as many warm blankets, it was cosy. On one of the big sofas sat a woman, blonde hair cut short and an arm flung over the back like she owned the place, her feet up on a coffee table set between the two couches and covered in things Joanna didn’t want to think about. The few things she did recognise on the table she knew where drugs or drug paraphernalia, something she had been taught to avoid like the plague, especially with her background. She recoiled a little at it and her rescuer must have noticed,  
          “Hey, Farha, get rid of that stuff will you” he said to the woman, who scoffed when she looked at Joanna but did as he said, sweeping everything haphazardly into a box and stuffing it under the table while the man lowered her aching body onto the opposite seat, “now let’s get a proper look at you shall we”  
          “Em… do I get to know your name first, before you go touching up my legs?” He laughed at this, a strong throaty noise that made her think of a charismatic king, the type of man who knew he owned the world,  
          “It’s John” he said and he lifted her leg onto the table and looked over it, touching her skin tenderly. The woman, Farha he had called her, brought him an extensive looking first aid kit and put it down on the table beside where he sat. He opened it and started taking things out, giving no warning before he ran an antiseptic wipe over her grazes making her wince, “do I get to know yours?”  
          “Joanna” she told him between pained gasps,  
          “Ok Joanna, this is gonna hurt” he finally moved to the bullet wound and took a syringe with a big, evil looking needle in his hand, she squeaked and grabbed his wrist “it’s just something for the pain love”  
          “No… I don’t… I don’t do drugs”  
          “Come on, it’s just like what you’d get in hospital”  
          “In hospital they’d have my records, know my allergies and have a decade of training to know how to administer it and just how much. I can handle the pain if that’s what you’re worried about”  
          “Really, you don’t look like the type who could” he said dismissively but put the vial away anyway and reached for some tweezers.  
          It turned out she could handle the pain, but only just. After a lot of screaming and swearwords that she would have been ashamed of in other situations she had three stitches and no more bullets in her. John had been very careful and as gentle as he could but it was still the worst pain she had ever experienced, now he was sat on the couch opposite with a joint while Farha appeared to be making hot drinks in what must have been a kitchen,  
          “Care to tell me how you got those?” He asked, gesturing at her arm and her eye “I mean, I saw those guys shoot you and I’m sure they would have roughed you up but you look like you were thrown from a car or something”  
          “Pretty much” she waved a hand attempting to dismiss his concerns but he just narrowed his eyes at her,  
          “Why would someone do that?” Clearly her new friend was far too stubborn to be put off by one vague answer “and what about the eye?”  
          “Look, I’m thankful for the help I really am but I don’t want to get you mixed up in my mess. I can handle all this, I just want to get home”  
          “I’m not holding you here or anything, I can drive you home whenever but I think it’s an idea to at least try to get some sleep first… mind you, you must be in a lot of pain” Farha came through then and handed the two of them hot mugs of coffee, taking her own and sitting by john whilst glaring at Joanna,  
          “What happened to your face?” She asked him and noticed the two of them tense up dramatically, if she didn’t know better she would have sworn Farah reached for a knife on the side table before quickly lowering her arm… actually she didn’t know better and would bet that she had,  
          “That’s not a good story love” he told her in warning, the exact response she had expected and hoped for,  
          “You tell me yours I’ll tell you mine” she said with a cocky grin, he relaxed and smiled at her, putting a hand on Farah’s arm to stop her from doing whatever she was thinking about,  
          “Touche… you’re a smart one aren’t you?”  
          “That’s the English education system for you”  
          “That’s what the accent is… whereabouts?”  
          “Yorkshire… well not far from York to be a bit more exact” he narrowed his eyes and looked thoughtful at her for a minute,  
          “Long way from home… what brought you to Boston?”  
          “My sister” she said sadly, looking down at the mug in her hands,  
          “If she brought you where is she now?”  
          “That’s the thing, I don’t know” she stared at the mug for a long time, as if it would give her answers to the mysteries she had found here.


	2. Close Call

_She watched the handsome man walk across the room, he was well built and the officer's dress uniform barely fit across his strong muscles, he was clearly someone important. The police officer at the desk in front of her followed her eyes and smirked, “that’s the police chief, he tends to have that effect”_   
_“Oh, ok. My sister though… that is why I’m here” the plain looking female officer blushed a little in embarrassment and turned back to the outdated computer screen in front of her, tapping at buttons on the keyboard below it,_   
_“I’m sorry ma’am, there’s no one matching that description in the system, no one has made a report of her being missing”_   
_“That can’t be, surely she would have had friends who would wonder where she is. I went to her address and it was a mess, stuff thrown everywhere and no Shauna to be seen… surely someone must have noticed? I went to her work and they said she hadn’t shown up in days”_   
_“I’m sorry ma’am all I can do now is fill out a missing person’s report and get details off you, the more you can tell me about where she was and what she did before the incident the more we have to go on”_   
_“The problem is I can’t tell you about that, I barely knew her and I only just got here to see her and now she’s gone… look can I get a coffee or something before I do this?”_   
_“Sure, the break room is through there, I shouldn’t really let you but you can go make a coffee for yourself. I’ll put these details in the system while you’re gone” Joanna nodded and thanked the woman before getting up and heading into the breakroom. That’s where she came face to face with him for the first time._

          The old furniture creaked underneath her as Joanna pushed herself off the comfy cushions of the sofa into a sitting position. The pain in her leg and along her side was near agony now and she wished she had accepted the drugs offered to her last night but was proud of her resolve all the same. On the table in front of her was a pile of neatly folded clothes, looked like some jeans and a t-shirt in close to her size, probably Farah’s. A note on top said simply “put me on” so she did, peeling the blood stained, damp dress off her cold skin and replacing it with the white t-shirt and skinny jeans. Honestly they were a lot more her style than the doll like dress she had been wearing against her will and she felt much better in these comfortable, unassuming clothes,  
          “Morning” John said in a deep singsong voice as he entered the room, holding another mug of coffee out to her,  
          “Morning… you sound far too chipper” she took the proffered mug and sighed at the warmth spreading over her hands,  
          “Not every day I wake up to a pretty girl on my sofa”  
          “What about Farha… I assumed she was your girlfriend”  
          “Nahh… work associate, right hand woman, best friend is more like” he grinned at her and winked, throwing her off guard a little,  
          “Oh” was all she managed to say,  
          “Here… take some of these” he told her, holding out a blister pack to her “don’t worry, it’s over the counter stuff, think I’ve got the box around somewhere if you wanna read up on dosages and side effects and all that”  
          “No that’s fine… thank you” she took two of the painkillers and washed it down with a sip of bitter black coffee, just the way she liked it,  
          “I can probably take you home now if you want, probably best this time in the morning before I get too high” he said with a laugh in his tone,  
          “I’m sorry I was rude last night… about the drugs I just…” she trailed off, not sure how to finish that train of thought,  
          “Nahh it’s cool, you weren’t exactly at your best and if that shit makes you uncomfortable it makes you uncomfortable” he waved a hand at her, dismissing her worries,  
          “I got it drilled into me that drugs are bad and my parents aren’t very open minded about… well anything really. I’m just not used to things like that being so out in the open”  
          “I get it, you’re not exactly going to like what I do for a living then” he offered her his arm to help her get down the stairs now that she had finished her coffee and she gladly accepted, unsure if she could manage walking by herself,  
          “What are you a dealer or something?”  
          “Pretty much” she looked at him shocked and he grinned at her reaction, “it’s nothing like in the movies, I don’t drive a porsche or have hundreds of hired goons, hell I don’t even have a fedora. More a case of making sure things get to the right places and stopping anyone from messing with me you know?”  
          “So I got rescued by a drug lord?” He held the door open on a beat up looking black car, it was very unassuming, perfect for someone who needed to not be noticed. She got in and pulled her seatbelt on as he started up and pulled away from the brick built warehouse,  
          “I wouldn’t say Lord… just… shipper”  
          “You ship drugs?”  
          “Like I said, I make sure packages get to their destination, if it makes you feel better think of it as a postman of illegal post” she laughed at this,  
          “So it’s not like you rescued me because you have a heart of gold, more that you wanted those cops gone anyway?”  
          “They were a bit close to home but no, I saw you were in trouble and I wanted to help, not like the world’s gonna miss two dickless rapists” she noticed as they pulled past the spot where he had saved her that it looked like nothing had happened the night before, he noticed where she was looking and explained “got people to do cleanup”  
          “I thought you said you didn’t have hired goons?”  
          “I said I didn’t have hundreds of hired goons, not that I didn’t have any… I got people who help me to do a job when I need a job doing”  
          “Why are you telling me all this? Surely it’d be safer for you for me not to know?”  
          “Probably, but I kinda feel like I owe it to you”  
          “Why?”  
          “Cos you trusted me… can’t have you trusting me and not telling you the truth about who I am. Anyway I kinda want to see you again, that whole thing with your sister had me thinking and I wanna help” he said sounding genuine in a way that Joanna hadn’t heard since she got to Boston and realised everyone here is out for themselves, “We’re here, here’s my number, get in touch when you find anything”  
          “Thanks” she took the scrap of paper that had his name and number written on it and put it in her pocket as she climbed out of the car, “I’ll see you around John”

          After dropping off the mystery woman it was back to work for John Hancock. He’d been having some problems with the cops and not in the way you might imagine, no they had just been skipping the justice system and shooting his boys in cold blood and it had to be stopped. The light of the sun barely filtered into this particular warehouse leaving it almost permanently dark, it was far from his home and this was where he usually did... this sort of business. The snivelling man was tied to a chair under the pool cast from a dirty ceiling light, dust motes dancing in the beam, Hancock was never one to skimp on a bit of theatrics,  
          “So who are you?” He asked the guy, pointedly playing with his favourite knife, staring longingly at it as he spun it around his fingers and purposefully not looking at the captive, see, theatrics,  
          “P-P-Patrick sir” good, stuttering and calling him sir, this wasn’t going to take long at all,  
          “Irish name, Patrick… one of the old Irish Bostonians are we?” He still didn’t look at the man, just focused on the twirling of the knife,  
          “N-N-N-No, just your average low life, grew up in a bad neighbourhood s-s-sir” Hancock nodded, it was a familiar story and not too far from his own only he didn’t let it stop him and this guy was nothing more than a hired thug and a snitch,  
          “What do you do for a living Patrick?”  
          “Garbage man sir” it was practiced, like he said that every day for years to assure himself that he really did work legitimately. Hancock pounced, diving towards him and knocking the chair backwards on two legs so that the hand in his hair was the only thing holding him up, his other hand held the blade to his throat. Patrick swallowed nervously,  
          “What do you really do Patrick?” He said, tipping his scarred and ugly head to the side as though it was an innocent question and he was just curious, like he didn’t have a knife held up to the man’s throat,  
          “I kill people for money” it was almost a desperate shout and Hancock knew he would tell him anything he needed to know now. He lowered the sweating thug back so that all the feet of his chair were on the floor and took a step back, returning to playing with his knife,  
          “You killed some of my guys… who paid?”  
          “I don’t know… I really don’t… they never gave me names” Hancock scoffed and stared right into the man’s face, he wasn’t lying but he definitely knew more,  
          “Did you see their faces?”  
          “Yea… they were average, what do you want me to say?”  
          “I want you to tell me what you are trying and failing to hide from me, Patrick”  
          “Ok fine… they were cops, they weren’t in those suits or nothing but you could smell it on them from a mile off” Hancock nodded, he knew it and now he knew that Maxson was getting smarter, too many shootings attributed to his guys would raise suspicion no matter how many times he called it self defence. Now they were hiring low life street thugs and getting them caught up in this mess, “there’s more too… I heard Maxson’s got a new squeeze and she’s gone missing… that’s useful right?”  
          “Tell me Patrick, have you ever killed a kid… or a little old lady… or a dog?”  
          “What the fucks that gotta do with it… yea course I have”  
          “In that case I’ll class this as taking out the trash” he lifted a pistol and unceremoniously shot the guy, right between the eyes, turning to his second in command             “don’t tell me I don’t do housework Farah”  
          “That doesn’t count, especially since it’s made more mess for me to clean up” he laughed at her, suddenly relaxing and dropping the crime boss act. They left the place together and he let his mind wander to the other point, the dickhead had a girlfriend and knowing him she was either clueless or just as evil as he was. He hoped for clueless.

_He looked at her with light blue eyes, roaming around like he was appraising her and she felt herself flush, he really was good looking. She made to step around him and he placed a hand on her arm, making her jump,_   
_“You shouldn’t be in here” he said in a deep voice that made her flush deeper and want to spill her guts to him. She almost told him that the officer had told her she could but stopped short. The woman had told her she shouldn’t have let her and if what she told her had been right it was likely this man was her bosses, bosses boss or something,_   
_“I thought this was where I could get coffee… I’m sorry” she looked at his stern face, surrounded by dark hair, his beard trimmed neat and the sides of his head shaven, the top slicked down. If only he smiled, then he would have been really attractive and more than just the way he looked, Joanna loved a nice smile but this man was intense and angry, his steely eyes burning into her,_   
_“There’s a coffee shop on the ground floor… but I suppose I can let you get away with it just this once” he seemed so serious, like her father telling her off but much to her surprise he turned and made her a coffee gesturing for her to sit at the table where he joined her and introduced himself as Arthur Maxson. They fell into awkward conversation until she had finished her coffee and had to return to the female officer to finish filling out the missing person’s report._   
_Joanna was surprised later that day when her phone went off and she had a text message on it,_   
_“This is Arthur Maxson, we met today at the station, I wondered_   
_If you would like to have dinner with me sometime”_   
_Little did she know it was the beginning of something destructive and dangerous, she agreed and didn’t for a moment wonder how he had got hold of her number._

          It was a week since the incident in the warehouse district and Joanna had been healing, now she could walk ok but she still had to wear long sleeves to cover the scrapes on her right arm and jeans to cover her right leg with it’s matching scrape and added bullet hole. The black eye was finally fading and she felt confident to cover it with makeup and go outside, even if she did walk with a slight limp still. She wanted nothing more than to check on her sister’s case but by now she knew the police would do nothing and she couldn’t risk seeing him, not that he didn’t know where she lived, a problem that would have to be dealt with at some point.  
          With a sigh she put on her coat and headed out the door, she would head towards the shadier side of town and see if there was anyone there who could help her, perhaps it would be like a film noir and she could find some old, grizzled private eye or something. In fact after asking around a few places a woman in a run down shop told her in broken English about exactly that. Joanna was shocked to find that America still had things like private investigators, she’d always assumed they were just in movies and books. This guy was called Valentine and he worked out of a basement office, the door to which was down a dark alley that smelt like piss and was covered in graffiti, not quite as glamorous as she had pictured. The door itself was of unpainted aluminium and adorned with peeling stickers from the laziest graffiti artists who would just have them made up and run around the city sticking their art to anything flat. She wasn’t sure whether to knock or just walk in, it’s not like she had any experience of this sort of thing. She settled on knocking and waited until the door was pulled open by a young looking woman, brown hair pulled back in a loose bun,  
          “Can I help?” The woman asked, not bothering to look up from a clipboard in her hand. She seemed more scatterbrained than rude so Joanna just ignored it and spoke to her like she had her full attention,  
          “My name’s Joanna and I’m looking for a Mr Valentine” the woman’s face shot up at that, her wide eyes looking over Joanna as if she held some sort of secret,  
          “And why would you need Detective Valentine?”  
          “Is this how you treat all potential customers?”  
          “Oh… well come in Joanna” she said, stepping out of the way and gesturing down a long hallway that ended in steps down to the basement, it smelt a lot nicer in here than it had in the alley and Joanna happily stepped in. The other woman fell into step behind her “My name’s Ellie, please forgive my rudeness, you get a lot of enemies in this kind of work, can’t be too careful… NICK, GOT A CUSTOMER”  
          “I told you Ellie it’s usually client, not customer” said an older man, maybe forty or so, who stepped through a door into the small room at the bottom of the stairs that was made smaller by the two desks and rows of filing cabinets that took up most of the space. He looked Joanna up and down and she started to wonder why everyone kept doing that “how can I help you ma’am?”  
          “I need to find someone, or at least what happened to someone” she told him, he gestured to a seat in front of one of the desks and sat on his own chair behind it, she took her seat and waited for him to talk,  
          “It’s a good job that’s my speciality then, the names Nick Valentine if you didn’t already know and this is Ellie, best secretary I’ve ever had even if she can be a bit forgetful”  
          “Joanna” she didn’t want to tell him her surname if she could help it, after all Shauna had been using an assumed surname, Newman, for years so he didn’t need to know who she was just yet, Nick narrowed his eyes at her like he knew her game but let it pass,  
          “Right now that the introductions are over, tell me everything” he put his elbows on the desk and leaned over, his hands twined together, looking at her intently,  
          “I’m looking for my sister, Shauna Newman. I haven’t talked to her in years, we had a big falling out and she ended up moving to America. She moved around a lot, took up lots of different identities and would send me a letter every time saying where and who she was, just in case I ever needed to find her and I did need to until now”  
          “What changed to make you need to find her now?”  
          “Our parents died in a plane crash, I need to find her and tell her”  
          “Do you not have her address? You said she always told you where she was”  
          “That’s the thing, I do, I went there and found the place a mess, like someone had gone through everything and her gone… I went to her work too and they hadn’t seen her for days, they were pretty heartless, told me if I found her to tell her she was sacked”  
          “Well that is different” he sat back in his chair and Joanna got the distinct impression he did this when he was thinking, alternating between leaning forward and sitting back “have you filed a police report?”  
          “Yes, though they have proven useless and… there are personal reasons I don’t want to work with the police anymore” he nodded and leaned forward again,  
          “I need you to tell me her name, her real name, her address, where she worked, the police file number and anything else you can think of”  
          “How did you know I’d given you her false name?”  
          “It’s my job to spot these things and you aren’t exactly a good liar” she smiled at him,  
          “Yea I guess I’m not. Ok her first name is Shauna and she was known as Newman here but… our real surname is Ainsworth” he nodded like he knew what it meant and Joanna went on to tell him everything she could about Shana and her life since leaving England, she didn’t see the point in telling him about their childhood or the falling out, it was all in the past.

          At home Joanna made herself a coffee, it had become a constant habit since arriving here, she had liked coffee before but now it was her lifeblood and she couldn’t manage life without caffeine. The doorbell rang, it was a neighbour, something about someone making a lot of noise moving furniture in her apartment in the middle of the day and she assured him she hadn’t been in the place in the middle of the day in weeks. That’s when it happened, a loud crash of broken glass and a smoke grenade flew into her hallway, filling it up with acrid white smoke that made it impossible to see. The neighbour rang 911 and was yelling down the phone about a breakin when she felt arms around her, big, strong arms trying to lift her up from behind and carry her off and she instinctively shoved her head back with such force she must have broken a nose before throwing herself through the door and pulling it closed. Her assailant struggled with the door for some time before giving up, they heard another window smash downstairs and footsteps on the stairs, someone running towards them. She caught a glimpse of what she assumed was a man, dressed in all black with a mask covering his features, rounding a corner on the stairs. Before he reached her though sirens blared outside and he disappeared, another crash of glass told her he had escaped through a window and would be long gone by the time the police got themselves together enough to look for him.  
          She was taken down to the station despite her protests against it and was in a state of panic by the time she got there. After some questioning by an officer she heard the news she had been dreading, the Chief wanted to see her and even though she would have rather walked across a tightrope over a piranha infested pool than walk down that corridor to his office she found herself agreeing. Maxson was working when her escort opened the door for her, he looked up and dismissed them, his pale eyes looking into her soul, “You look nice Joanna”


	3. Police Protection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coming face to face with her ex isn't Joanna's idea of a good time and when he gives her an ultimatum she gets the feeling he'll be benefitting from either option. Still she has a new friend to vent to now... only John Hancock doesn't do subtle.

_He couldn’t take his eyes off her and she couldn’t help looking at his, or the rest of his face come to think of it and they barely paid attention to the food in front of them as they spoke. Which was a shame because he’d brought her to a lovely, expensive restaurant and what little she did eat was heavenly. It wasn’t very her, Joanna prefered greasy spoons and family run eateries over high class but the gesture was still nice. She got a little tipsy on the wine, it was a good Vintage, 2007 from Tuscany and from what little she knew about wine she knew that was a good year. He had insisted on getting a cab and seeing her to her front door, where he kissed her softly, a thrill running through her at the touch of his lips before he left her on the doorstep like a perfect gentleman._   
_A few days later she got another text_

  
                    “We should do that again sometime :)”

  
          _And they did, after a few dates and thinking she knew him quite well she started thinking of him as her Boyfriend, she saw his apartment and showed him hers but he didn’t stay the night. For over a month he seemed perfect, spending time with her, giving her cute little presents that she returned in kind and never pushing her to anything more physical than kissing. After all he knew she had just lost her parents and he seemed so understanding._  
 _Joanna grew to trust Arthur Maxson._

          He stood in front of her, scowling and she couldn’t help but look away, staring at her shoes or the wall, his desk, anything but him,  
          “Joanna look at me” he ordered in his domineering way, she looked at the wall just behind him, which seemed to be enough “I should have been there”  
          “I told you, we’re through” she tried to pour every ounce of fury into those five words but she didn’t feel furious, just scared. She was scared that he would pull her back in, that she would have been so close to escape and he would just grab her back,  
          “I’m sorry… for everything” he sounded so genuine, but then he always did when he got around to regretting,  
          “It doesn’t matter, we’re through” she had to keep strong, had to not look at the pain in his eyes when he looked at her because that was just what would break her. He seemed to honestly think he was right, that he just had a little problem but altogether he was a good guy and that he could change. He was so sure of it that if Joanna wasn’t careful he would have her believing too and she would end up giving him one more chance,  
          “If you don’t want me around at least let me put you under police protection” she didn’t want that, to have an officer outside her building, maybe even outside her door every moment, to have the police follow her out shopping or down to Valentines office. But he wouldn’t listen and she knew he wouldn’t,  
          “I don’t want that”  
          “You have no choice Joanna, I will not leave you unprotected when someone tried to kidnap you so it’s either this or me”  
          “I don’t want either, I can look after myself”  
          “It’s not for you to decide, God Joanna anyone else in your position would be offered police protection, it’s not like I’m forcing you into something that I wouldn’t offer anyone else” he wouldn’t let her leave until she agreed, she knew it and the other option was him being with her and she couldn’t do that, couldn’t escape if he did that,  
          “Ok” she said weakly, looking back down at the floor, he seemed to relax at this,  
           “Good, I will have an officer take you home and he will be posted at your front door, if you have any problems he will help you” he said, picking up the phone and calling for someone to be sent through. Joanna just resigned herself to her fate and followed the cop out to his car with her head bowed, she had no one now, no friends, no family, no idea where her sister was or if she could ever get to the Detective who could help her without Maxson knowing everywhere she went. She knew she was defeated, but she still had someone, someone who had offered to help her with no thought of what she could do in return.

  
          Back at home again and with an officer posted right outside her front door she flopped onto the sofa and pulled out her phone, she made sure to sit in a way that meant she was staring down the hall right at the front door. Knowing a strange man she didn’t trust was stood right outside made her feel far from safe,

                    _“I think I might need that help in the end, the offer_  
 _Still there?_  
 _Joanna”_

          She pressed send, twiddling nervously with her hands as she watched the phone for a response. Thankfully she didn’t have to wait too long until the screen lit up and it skitted across her coffee table on vibrate,

              _“Sure it is, What’s up love?_  
 _John”_

_“I’ve kinda got myself in some trouble, I need help_   
_Getting out of my apartment without anyone following_   
_Me, can you do that?”_

_“Yea probably, who’s following you? Is everything OK?_   
_I can come round if you need me”_

_“No don’t come round, I’m ok now but there’s a police_   
_Officer at my door and I’m guessing you aren’t going_   
_To be on their list of good guys”_

_“Don’t worry about me sunshine! I need to finish up some_   
_Business here then I’ll be round”_

_“No John it’s fine, I’m ok honestly”_

          There was no reply to that so Joanna assumed the subject was dropped. With a deep sigh she finally moved away from where she could see the front door and went to get a shower. She locked the bathroom door but somehow still didn’t feel safe, looking around the big bathroom she spotted an old chair made from strong wood and jammed it under the doorknob. It helped but not enough, she still didn’t feel safe but she jumped in the shower anyway.

_The first time he hit her was not long after the first time they had sex. It had been in the middle of a heated argument about god knows what and he’d grabbed her and started pawing at her clothes and kissing her hungrily. He’d been rough, biting at her and pulling her hair while he pounded into her and Joanna had been shocked to find out she liked it, liked the way he was so passionate and the way his harshness made her feel sexy. She came with a scream of his name and collapsed onto the mattress all thoughts of fighting forgotten in a wash of post orgasm ecstasy._   
_It turned out he wasn’t done with the fight, apparently fucking her like he hated her hadn’t been enough to get rid of all his frustration and he just went on yelling,_   
_“You’re really going to do this now?” She asked him calmly as his face turned red with anger and a vein on his temple threatened to explode,_   
_“HOW ARE YOU SO FUCKING CALM?” He yelled at her,_   
_“Because I’m not close to psychotic like you” she told him, it was cruel but it was far closer to the truth than she knew then. The heavy back hand came out of nowhere and sent her stumbling to the floor, seeing stars and fighting to hold onto consciousness, “GET OUT”_   
_“I’m sorry” he held a hand down to help her up from the floor where she laid sprawled out next to the bed, it was her turn to be angry now,_   
_“GET OUT OF MY HOUSE” she yelled and he stumbled backwards in the face of her rage, slamming the door on his way out._   
_The next day flowers had come to her door, the note read “I’m sorry” just that, nothing more. Somehow she managed to forgive him and just fell deeper._

          It was late now, Joanna was in a pair of baggy old pajama bottoms and a threadbare tank top, sprawled out on top of her bedsheets “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” open in front of her. She suddenly felt a rush of cold air and heard her window fly open. Sitting straight up like lightning and tensing ready for a fight she looked over to see John standing there looking concerned,  
          “Fucking hell John… you can’t just let yourself in my bedroom” she chastised him, jumping off the bed and feeling a flush of embarrassment at how she was dressed,  
          “You really need to get a better lock on that window, anyone could climb up the fire escape” he said, apparently not noticing the irony in his warning,  
          “Someone just did”  
          “Yea well I don’t count, I’m here to do good. Now tell me, why is there a cop at your front door?” He strutted over to her bed and sat down on the comforter, amongst the hundreds of cushions like he owned the place, Joanna scowled but joined the interloper anyway,  
          “Someone tried to kidnap me”  
          “What the fuck Jo! Why didn’t you tell me I’d have come straight here” he spluttered out, eyes wide in shock and just a hint of anger,  
          “Because my neighbour got the police involved, I really don’t want anything to do with them but I had no choice”  
          “Yea I guess… so what do you need from me?”  
          “I found an old detective, his names Valentine and he promised to help me find my sister but I can’t exactly get to him with a police tail now can I?”  
          “I know Valentine… good guy, good at his job” she looked at him wondering how he could possibly know the exact guy she went to in such a big city, almost as though he read her mind he supplied “we move in similar circles, a lot of the people round there come to me when Nicky’s way doesn’t work and they need something more… underground”  
          “What do you ask in return?” She asked him, an eyebrow raised,  
          “You’re a smart one… nothing, I’m not gonna hit the people worse off with something bad and I’d rather they came to me than got mixed up with thugs and hired killers… think of it as pro bono with a lot more violence”  
          “I can’t figure out if you’re a really good guy or just trying to convince me you are”  
          “I’m not a good guy, I just know what it’s like to have nothing” she looked at him, really looked at him, for the first time. His face was scarred heavily, like someone had gone to town on him with a knife and used his skin as an ashtray which should have made him ugly but the lines underneath, his cheekbones, his jaw were like a model. His eyes were dark, irises almost as black as his pupils and a stark contrast to the long, dark blonde hair pulled back in a messy ponytail but the more she looked at those eyes the more she could sense a kindness there, an open honesty she saw so rarely. Somehow her gut told her she could trust him. Joanna didn’t want to trust, only she had no one else and John had been so kind to her,  
          “You seem like a good guy to me” she told him finally, he shook his head and let out a barely perceptible laugh, more like a sigh and not filled with mirth,  
          “Tell me about this… attempted kidnapping” he skilfully changed the subject from himself and she could tell he did that a lot,  
          “It wasn’t something spur of the moment, it seemed planned. They used a smoke bomb thrown through my window and tried to grab me”  
          “How come it didn’t work?”  
          “I know how to take care of myself… I think I broke the guy’s nose. My neighbour was there and he rang the police they turned up before he got the chance to try again”  
          “Did you get a look at him?”  
          “No… mask” she said, gesturing at her face as though it was covered. Hancock nodded and looked around the room for a second,  
          “Want me to stay?” He asked, gesturing to a beat up old couch in the corner,  
          “You don’t have to”  
          “Would you feel safer if I did?” He asked with an exhausted sigh, like he was bored of Joanna’s politeness,  
          “Yes”  
          “Then I stay” he got up and flopped onto the couch, it groaned wearily under his weight but he ignored it’s protests and got himself comfy. She threw over the comforter and got into bed herself, the clock said it was twelve past midnight, not a good hour to have a strange man in your bedroom. Despite herself Joanna felt safer watching the dark figure as he tried to find a good position on her old sofa and she watched him as she drifted off into an exhausted sleep.


	4. Break In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joanna gets called in to the place she volunteers to find someone she didn't expect.

_She stared at his big, sleeping form in the bed next to her and felt happy. Arthur Maxson had confessed his love last night then made love to her slowly and sweetly and now he slept at her side. Joanna had never imagined she’d find a man like him, he was kind and gentle and really goddamn hot. That was when he wasn’t angry, then it was like another person came out, someone she didn’t even know._   
_They’d been together almost four months and most of the time he was everything she wanted, but people had started to ask about the bruises and she was running out of excuses that didn’t sound lame even to her. She found herself forgiving him every time, she would look at the sadness in his eyes as he apologised to her and somehow she believed him every time he told her “I’ll change” or “Never again”. She knew she had to get out but he always pulled her back in and she always fell for it._

          “John” she whispered, gently shaking his shoulder and jumping back when he mumbled and flapped a hand at her “John we need to get up”  
          “Mmmmm… five more minutes” he said groggily, not opening his eyes or turning to her,  
          “You said that five minutes ago and ten minutes ago and fifteen minutes ago… how do you ever get up in a morning?” She asked with a laugh,  
          “I don’t” he grumbled finally rolling over to face her “morning beautiful”  
          “Flattery will not get you five more minutes, do you want a coffee? I can make pancakes too if you’d like”  
          “Pretty and she cooks… coffee would be great but I’m not exactly the breakfast type” he struggled to pull himself into an upright position, groaning like an old man, “god that was not comfy… next time I get the bed”  
          “Not on your life! Come on, I’ll make coffee” she waved him through into the living room where he eyed the broken window, boarded up with some old plywood,  
          “This where they got in?” Joanna stuck her head out of the kitchen to look at what he was gesturing at and nodded “How’d they get this high up? You’re on what… the tenth floor?”  
          “Ninth… and I don’t know, told you they seemed to know what they were doing” she came through with two steaming mugs of coffee and a banana in her mouth which she promptly ate once the coffee was passed over. She watched as her visitor examined her living room, she was proud of her little hippy crash pad and although she had aimed for boho chic and ended up more with trash pile she liked the place with it’s crumbling 80’s wallpaper and shelves of chaskis. He made his way quietly into the hallway and pushed his way through a door, mug in hand. Joanna decided to let him get away with being cheeky and only partly because, with the door to the hallway open, she could hear the cops radio going and knew he would hear her. Coming back in Hancock looked pissed off,  
          “You didn’t tell me you have a spare room” he accused once he had safely pulled the door closed and could no longer be overheard,  
          “You didn’t ask”  
          “I could have slept in a bed instead of on that… thing… in there” he waved angrily at her bedroom door where it sat just off the living room,  
          “Sorry… I should have said”  
          “Nahh it’s alright I probably wouldn’t have taken it anyway, felt better about being in the same room in case someone got through that joke of a window”  
          “You mean like you did? I was happy to have you in there” she smiled at him and he dropped down next to her,  
          “So, how’s a girl like you afford a big place like this?”  
          “I sell my body” she said flatly and his head snapped around to look at her,  
          “What?” He asked, eyes wide with shock, she couldn’t keep a straight face and burst out laughing “you’re joking… right”  
          “Maybe I’ll tell you someday. So what’s the plan for today?”  
          “Well I’ve already text Farah to let her know she’s in charge for the day, next step in getting the pig outside to think you’re staying in here all day… you got a radio?”  
          “Yea in the bedroom” he disappeared for a second and came back holding her vintage radio with a scowl,  
          “I’d have prefered something you can programme so it can switch channels and stuff but I guess this will have to do… right next step you gotta introduce yourself, invite him in for coffee or something, get to know him… charm the guy and see if you can get him to let his guard down, if he trusts you just a little it’ll be easier to sneak out the back for a few hours”  
          “What about you?”  
          “I’ll wait in your bedroom till you’re done, then we head down the fire escape, my cars parked somewhere out of the way, no one has to know a thing”  
          “Don’t go rifling through my knicker draw”  
          “Promise” he winked and made his way into the bedroom, shutting the door firmly behind him. With a deep steadying breath Joanna made her way to the front door, the shifts must have changed because the tall, dark haired man she was faced with wasn’t the same one who had driven her home the night before. He was stood straight backed with his hands clasped behind him, every bit the picture of perfect discipline and Joanna groaned internally, someone like that would be hard to bring round to her side,  
          “Hi” she said, making the man jump and spin around like he was on a battlefield and expecting the enemy any moment, his reflexes were surprisingly good and he seemed well built and toned unlike the stereotypical flabby cop, “do you want a coffee or something?”  
          “I shouldn’t, I’m on duty” he said, looking down at her with stern eyes,  
          “Are cops not allowed coffee? That’s news to me” she smiled at him and it wasn’t returned “come on in, I won’t tell if you don’t and it’s not like you won’t be able to watch me from the inside with a mug in your hand”  
          “You have a point… just this once” he said following her a little reluctantly into the flat where she offered him a seat and went to put the kettle on, making sure to turn on the radio as she did,  
          “It’ll have to be instant I’m afraid, I ran out of the good stuff a few days ago and haven’t got round to getting more… got to stay in today too, work to do”  
          “That will be fine” she brought through a couple of mugs to see the man sat straight backed and uncomfortable on her soft sofa, it was the type that would eat you if you weren’t careful but he was sat on it like it was made of stone,  
          “My name’s Joanna by the way” she said, handing him the coffee and wondering who put the stick up his butt,  
          “Danse” he told her curtly, this was going to be hard,  
          “First name Danse or surname Danse”  
          “Surname, I do not give out my first name unless I know you personally, which I don’t” god this was going to be really hard,  
          “Ok then Danse… how long have you been in the police?” She asked for want of anything better, she never was too good a small talk,  
          “Three years, I was in the army before then, honorable discharge” he said with a nod, it seemed like something he told everyone. Joanna indulged herself for a moment and looked at his face, bushy eyebrows sat over small eyes that were scowling at her but the slight laugh lines suggested he wasn’t always a grump. He had a strong jaw that was peppered with stubble and full lips, altogether it made for something very attractive that she would have been interested in if she hadn’t got her fill of corrupt cops,  
          “How come you were discharged?”  
          “I broke my leg, it was serious and I was in a cast for months and because I had already served ten years it was decided I should rejoin the civilian world” he had a wistfulness when he spoke about the army, it must have been good for him. They continued to make small talk until long after the coffee was finished, Joanna found herself enjoying his company and after some time he began to relax a little. It was with a slight sense of disappointment that she told him she would have to get to work and saw him out of her apartment, she knew she would prefer to have him watching over her than anyone else in the force.

_“Hey beautiful” the stranger said to her as she stood at the bar waiting for Arthur to return from the Bathroom,_   
_“You probably don’t want to talk to me” she warned him, but the confusion on his face told her he didn’t get what she meant,_   
_“Why is that? I think talking to you would be lovely… can I buy you a drink?”_   
_“No… look really I’m not just trying to brush you off, you should go before…” she was interrupted by a hand on the small of her back and looked up to see Arthur stood at her side, her heart sank and she wished this guy had listened to her,_   
_“Are you bothering my girl?” He said to the man, each syllable dripping with barely suppressed anger like a volcano waiting to explode,_   
_“No, just talking” the guy said, far more cocky than he would have been if he knew just what the man glaring at him was like,_   
_“It seems to me like you were bothering her” Arthur said, grinding his teeth afterwards,_   
_“No he was just talking to me hon” she tried to diffuse her bomb of a boyfriend but regretted talking at all when his rage turned on her and he raised an eyebrow,_   
_“I’ll deal with you later” he said to her and the flirty guy looked shocked at just how much scorn was in his voice,_   
_“Hey what gives? You don’t talk to a lady like that” the guy said, she didn’t understand why he was defending her but it all came to an end when Arthur knocked him to the floor with a strong right hook and started kicking him in the stomach, eyes full of fire and fury. Joanna tried to pull him off the poor guy and succeeded when Maxson’s attention turned to her and he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out of the place, his hand tight enough to bruise._   
_The next day she was black and blue and her hips hurt from him parting them roughly and pushing his way into her while he held her legs as far apart as they would go. She didn’t dare leave the house for almost a week after that, at least not until she could cover the bruises with makeup so no one would ask about them._

          Hancock got back to his warehouse that evening to find a stoned Farah and some woman passed out on the couch, he raised an eyebrow at her but still flopped down opposite her and rolled a joint. She woke the woman and called her a cab before joining him for what was left of the smoke and started making lines of coke from a bag on the table, snorting some herself she held up the other line to him,  
          “Nahh not right now” he said waving it away,  
          “What the hell’s up with you… is this about that stray you brought home the other day?”  
          “Something like that, whatever trouble she’s in she’s in it deep and all she wants to do is find her sister. I set a couple of guys at the back of her place to keep an eye on her, she doesn’t know but I’d feel a lot safer with her being watched”  
          “You got a crush John?” She smirked at him playfully,  
          “Nahh, just want to help out”  
          “ha sure… didn’t you say she was mixed up with the cops?”  
          “Yea, got one posted at her front door, someone tried to kidnap her and I think it’s got something to do with her sister. Managed to sneak her out to Valentine, she’s a smart girl and she had him working on the case already, god knows how she found him”  
          “Was he any help?”  
          “Nahh just told us what we already knew, it was a professional hit planned out to the last detail just like when they tried to get her. I honestly think they only failed at that cos they underestimated her… she broke the guy’s nose” he said with a hearty laugh,  
          “Definitely sounds like a crush to me John, you gotta stop bringing home strays”  
          “You didn’t complain the last time I brought a girl home and she ended up sleeping with you… in fact you seemed rather happy that time”  
          “Yea sure but I didn’t end up driving her around everywhere, or getting men who could be busy elsewhere to keep an eye on her. You even fucked her yet?”  
          “Come on Farah it’s not about that… anyway you remember what she looked like when I found her, she’d been thrown from a moving car with a black eye and I doubt that was an experience she found endeared her towards men. I saw her arms last night too, fading bruises all over them”  
          “She tell you what that was about?”  
          “No but I can guess… looked like it had been going on a long time, I’m glad she’s out of whatever messed up shit that was” he sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose for a moment “she’s strong though… like inside, still got humour and a spark despite everything”  
          “This really sounds like a crush John… be careful alright, whoever gave her those bruises probably wouldn’t be happy about you sniffing around”  
          “I’m not sniffing… anyway you’ve seen her, way too good for a old junkie like me” he sighed again and reached out for the line, he needed to be a lot less sober if this conversation was going to go on.

          “I need you to come in… now” it was Preston on the phone, he worked at the care home downtown where most of the old people were poor and had very little to their name other than keepsakes and heirlooms. It was also where Joanna volunteered while she was looking for Shana and she hadn’t been in in a couple of weeks, telling Preston that she’d been injured but not going into the details of how,  
          “What’s up Preston?” She asked him, he sounded panicked and she didn’t know what to make of it, there wasn’t usually a lot of excitement in an old people’s home,  
          “There’s been a break in, they took everything they could get their hands on and everyone’s panicking” he told her desperately and her heart skipped a beat, it hurt to think of those lonely men and women with little left other than memories and the keepsakes that went with them… who the hell would do this?  
          “Ok I’ll come in… I may have a tail though, I’ll explain when I get there” hanging up she grabbed her coat and swept out the door, Danse following after her as she took the stairs two at a time with a confident stride,  
          “Where are you going Joanna?” He asked, keeping pace with her easily since he was so god damn fit, the guy must run track or something, “slow down, you’ll fall and break your neck at this rate then all this work would be for nothing”  
          “Good to know my life is less important than your wasted man hours”  
          “That’s not what I meant” she grabbed the door handle and let herself out, the tall cop on her tail until she reached the bus stop just as a bus was pulling away,  
          “Fuck… ok if you must know I volunteer at a care home downtown, I just got a call that there’s been a break in and everyone’s panicking so I need to get there asap”  
          “I can drive you, I do have a squad car for situations like this”  
          “Ok but if I were you I’d stay in the car on the other side of the street while I go in, you don’t want to be swamped by old people asking about their treasured possessions because of the uniform” he nodded and led her to the car.

          Once inside it really was chaos, the front door was broken and people were crying and the staff looked run ragged, Preston was nowhere to be seen but Joanna assumed making a lot of tea and coffee was probably the best course of action. In the kitchen the crouchy cook, Marcy was trying her hardest to get out orders and her husband Jun was boiling kettle after kettle, this was definitely where Joanna could help the most so she took up a spot making sure the steaming cups got to their destination. Ok so she was not much more than a waitress right now but she felt like she was helping, every resident she gave a drink to asked about their things, it seemed like all the bedrooms had been gone through and everything of value taken while the residents were in the TV room. Who could and who would do something like that?  
          She glanced across the room hoping to spot Preston’s dark skin and overly formal outfits in the crowd but instead she saw someone else, someone unexpected and made her way over with a look of complete shock,  
          “Lost your tail for the day?” Hancock joked, grinning to see her utter confusion,  
          “What the hell are you doing here?”  
          “I could say the same thing to you”  
          “I work here… well sort of and I’ve never seen you here before”  
          “My gran was here before she died, used to come all the time a few years back and got to know all the residents… only a few left now” he said sadly looking down at the woman next to him “Mama here is my favourite girl”  
          “So you’re where she keeps getting her… fix” the old woman at his side was an enigma if she ever knew one, no one, not even Preston, knew how old she was because her files had been lost a long time ago when they swapped from hard copies to computers. From looks alone she could be anywhere between 70 and 120 and she was telling no one, what’s worse she had a penchant for the odd pick me up, something she said was left over from a fun and misspent youth. They couldn’t figure out where she got her hands on the drugs but her room always stank of weed and sometimes they found stronger things in there when they cleaned, well this was one mystery solved,  
          “I don’t see any harm in it, Mama get’s what Mama wants and I’d rather know what she’s getting than ignore it”  
          “Listen to him young lady… this man here is smart. Plus I’m old, how much more living have I got left?” Mama Murphy piped in, on top of all the other odd things about her Joanna didn’t know her name, everyone just called her Mama Murphy,  
          “And he gets to make a tidy profit I’m sure” she said, casting a glare over the old lady at Hancock who just shrugged,  
          “Oh he doesn’t charge me… it’s all on the house my dear” Mama told her, which left Joanna even more shocked than she was before. She just shook her head and got back to work until everyone was a little more calmed down and had been assured everything was under control. Preston reappeared and explained he’d been at the station giving a statement, adding that they seemed like an utterly unhelpful bunch down there and he doubted they would get anywhere. After taking the whole afternoon just talking nonsense with the residents the place felt like it was getting back to normal and Joanna felt safe to leave them to it and head home, before she got the the big double doors past the reception though a hand grabbed her shoulder and turned her around. John was looking at her, silent appraisal playing across his scarred face as his eyes wandered across her features,  
          “Can I see you tonight?” He asked her, it was odd, he hadn't exactly asked the last time,  
          “Sure… I should get back to my pet police officer, he’s been waiting for hours” she shrugged her shoulder out of his grip but offered him a smile instead and he stood and watched her go. Danse was still sat in the police car across the road, he seemed to be filling in a crossword and that made her laugh, it was such an odd, old man thing to do but somehow completely suited him,  
          “Joanna” he said, raising his head as she sat in the passenger seat, his face was open and serious “are you ready to go?”  
          “Yes, are you ok taking me home?”  
          “Of course” he started the car and pulled into the street,  
          “When does your shift end?”  
          “About two hours ago” he told her, glancing over with a grin,  
          “WHAT? Why didn’t you tell me… or just leave, whoever replaced you could give me a lift surely. You didn’t have to wait for me”  
          “I wanted to… I had to make sure you’d be alright” she studied his face for any hint of a smile or a laugh, any clue that he might be joking but all she saw there was sincerity. It seemed like he really cared for her.

          The pawn shop dealer cowered in the corner as Farah searched his stock and Hancock watched, it was the kind of thing he did a lot, this guy wasn’t bad but he was an enabler for those who were so a little intimidation wouldn’t exactly do any harm,  
          “What are you looking for?” The chubby asian man asked him, his hands held out in front of him, possibly in defence, possibly in surrender,  
          “Someone broke into a care home… took everything, I want that stuff back and I know you trade in anything Patel” he growled at the man who cowered even further into the corner, “tell me how long does it take to wash the blood off some old ladies purse before it’s on the shelf?”  
          “Ok ok Hancock… a load of stuff did come in, I’m not telling you who from but you can have it just… don’t hurt me”  
          “Ahh come on brother I’m not gonna hurt you, that is unless you do something stupid. Who brought it in?” He didn’t intend to take no for an answer,  
          “I don’t know them, never seen them before but they were scary… dressed all in black like some comic book villain”  
          “What did they look like?”  
          “I dunno… plain, unassuming… one of them had this mask, like something out of a spy movie all technology and stuff”  
          “Shit” Hancock cursed under his breath, Farah looked up at him an unspoken question playing across her face “I don’t know who they are but they sound like the people who tried to grab Joanna… what the fuck is that girl mixed up in?”  
          “I’ll get you what they brought in Hancock… it didn’t exactly get them a lot of money” Patel waited until Hancock nodded before disappearing into the back of the shop,  
          “Don’t think the money’s got much to do with it” he muttered to himself,  
          “You’re better leaving her to it John” Farah warned him in her signature monotone,  
          “Come on I’m not gonna do that… plus this whole things kinda fun, spies dressed up like comic book villains, mysterious entities and a pretty girl, what more could you want?”  
          “It’s always about the skirt with you” he was about to argue when Patel came back through, a wire basket filled with useless looking trinkets that were almost definitely what they were looking for. He thanked the man and passed over some notes, it didn’t do to leave local business wanting, especially when having them in your pocket worked in your favour. His mind wandered to Joanna and what she might be doing right now.

 

                    “It came back… everything that was stolen is back,  
                    Someone dropped it off at reception, refused to give  
                    A name. Thank whatever angel is looking down on us,  
                             Preston”

          She read the text message and smiled, replying with a brief message then putting her phone aside, she had a pretty good clue who the mysterious benefactor was. A soft bump from her room told her that the devil himself was here, as she got up to meet him she was confused by the slight thrumming in her chest, something she hadn’t felt since she was a schoolgirl with her first real crush. She brushed it off and pulled open her bedroom door,  
          “John” she said as he came through the window and stood in front of her, she was overcome with a sudden need to hold him, wrap her arms around a man who, only weeks ago she didn’t know from Adam. She wasn’t exactly one for overthinking things at the best of times and right now she wasn’t exactly in her right mind, it had been a long day and someone was hunting her down and a most likely corrupt cop waited outside her door and all she wanted to do was throw herself at Hancock. Before she thought about it too much she ran over and wrapped her arms around his neck, standing on tiptoes to do so and planting a soft kiss on his cheek, the burned one much to both their surprise. He stood with his arms outstretched like he had been caught off guard and had no idea what to do, he didn’t get a chance to figure that one out before Joanna pulled away from him and stood there, cheeks flushed and unable to look him in the eye,  
          “What was that for? Not that I’m complaining of course” he said, his momentary confusion forgotten and his cocky attitude back,  
          “It’s just… well thank you” she rubbed her arm shyly, god what was happening here, Joanna Ainsworth did not act shy, Joanna Ainsworth did not suddenly develop over whelming crushes on men she barely knew, Joanna Ainsworth… oh god forget it,  
          “Thank you for what?”  
          “You know what… I just got a text from Preston”  
          “Oh… that… yea listen I think there’s something you need to know sunshine”  
          “And that is?” She made her way over to sit on the bed and finally looked up at him, he was watching her intently, something unreadable in his dark eyes,  
          “I think the break in at the home wasn’t a coincidence” he looked anxious, like he would give anything not to be telling her this right now, “I think it was about you”  
          “Me? How could it be about me?”  
          “I’m pretty much positive it was the same guy… or gang… or organisation, whatever, that tried to kidnap you and I guess they got your sister too” she felt a growing numbness in her gut and deep down she knew it was true, that some secretive group was out to get her for unknown reasons all the while her ex was keeping tabs on her and her only friends in the world were an old PI and a crime boss with a heart of gold… oh and one of the guys who worked for her ex. When did her life get so messed up?


End file.
